The Rite of AshkEnte: Sirius Edition
by St.Hedwig
Summary: Sirius is dead; everyone but Harry knows it. Just how far will Harry go to definitively prove it?


The Rite of AshkEnte

"He's not dead," a numb Harry said as he sat in Dumbledore's office.

"Harry, he's not coming back." Dumbledore replied.

"He's not dead."

"Harry, Harry," Albus Dumbledore mumbled, in his most comforting tone of voice.

"He's not dead."

"He went through the veil, and he can't make it back. He's as good as dead."

"He's not dead?"

"I don't believe that he's technically dead, but he's not coming back - he can't."

"He fell through the veil. Can't we pull him back through?"

"No. The Unspeakables have studied the veil since the Ministry was founded, and have never succeeded."

There was silence, while Dumbledore allowed Harry to collect himself, but just before Dumbledore drew a breath to speak Harry interjected, "I have the mirror. He should have the other. I can talk to him!"

"The mirrors were designed by your godfather and father – they are not meant to span the space that is now between them, even if he was carrying it with him." Dumbledore said in calm and, in Harry's mind, infuriating tone.

"Is there any way to speak with him? Or even find out if he's really," Harry's voice faltered as he changed the word, "gone?"

"There are no spells to call back the dead – only empty illusions. There are ways to communicate, but they are unreliable, and tend to be dark magic," Dumbledore replied. And the conversation moved to the prophecy and Harry's capacity for love.

Dumbledore's words stuck with Harry, as he talked to Nearly-Headless Nick, as he moped the grounds, and finally, as he trudged to the library, in search of a way to communicate with the dead. After all, Dumbledore had only said '_Tend_ to be dark magic.'

Three hours later, Hermione found him. "Harry, any books on raising the dead aren't in this library," she said upon finding him.

"How did you know…? Never mind. What about talking to the dead?"

"Harry, that's dark magic. It requires a sacrifice. But the restricted section probably has a few books, for research purposes."

"Even if I can just find out if he really is dead," he said, choking back a sob and thinking _I will not cry, I will not cry, I will not cry…_

"There is an ancient rite that calls the personification of death, but I read it in a book of, I suppose, lost spells is the best way to describe it."

"What do you mean by lost?" Harry asked with hope in his voice.

"They were all legendary spells that no one can get to work anymore, spells and rituals from before the time of Hogwarts."

"I want to try _something_. Please," he begged..

"It's unlikely to work, but it's simple enough and shouldn't do us any harm."

"Great, let's do it tonight."

"Please Harry, let me find the book and see if there are any requirements about the phases of the moon or the time of day."

Hermione looked up the Rite of AshkEnte, while Harry paced the library. Reading through the instructions, she admitted that any night or even day would work, although they would need five people, besides Harry to perform it, as well as 4cc mouse blood and some purple chalk. Harry left for the Owlery to beg Hedwig to bring back a mouse, while Hermione went to her usual "don't disturb me" spot in the library to copy out the pertinent information and cross-reference the runes in the limited time that she had.

After Hedwig went for a little hunt, Harry recruited Ron to help in their experimentation. Then they both had to convince Neville and Ginny to participate, which wasn't that hard. The four of them then spent nearly an hour trying to find Luna. In a stroke of genius and frustration, Ginny threatened to hex a third year girl if Luna wasn't outside the Ravenclaw common room in ten minutes. Eight and a half minutes later, Luna agreed to participate, and Harry lent her his invisibility cloak, telling her to go to an empty classroom near Gryffindor tower at half past eleven.

Then Ron and Harry spent a frantic half-hour looking for purple chalk. Eventually, Ginny got a stick by begging Dean for one from his art supplies. An hour before curfew, Hermione began to chalk the floor of the classroom with a circle inside a complicated eight-pointed star; runes drawn in a seemingly random manner. She finished just before curfew and hoped that the room would remain undisturbed for a few hours as she went back to Gryffindor tower.

At a half-hour to midnight, the six made their way to the classroom. Luna was fascinated by the invisibility cloak, although Harry hoped that she had worn it properly when sneaking through the corridors instead of as a cape. The rest seemed bored; after last night's adventure, impossible magic wasn't that exciting. Hermione organized them so that Ginny, Ron, Neville and herself had each foot on two adjacent points of the star, their wands out and pointed forward, ready to remain silent for the duration of the ritual. As the one wishing to speak with Death, Harry couldn't participate. Luna, who continued to act as though she was the witch version of Wonder Woman, was to speak the invocation, because she fit the requirements of seeing and accepting death, as evidenced by her ability to see thestrals and hear the voices beyond the veil.

Luna chanted a few minutes past midnight, and when she finished everyone waited for nearly a minute before, a voice that didn't enter the brain via the ears came from a shadowy corner of the room. WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?

"Aren't you supposed to be inside the circle?" was the first thing Harry blurted out.

AH, OF COURSE, PARDON ME. Death said as he walked between a deathly white Ron and a shocked Hermione.

"I wanted to know about the veil, in the Department of Mysteries, and Sirius Black."

I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE NEXT LIFE, I DO NOT KNOW WHERE THE VEIL LEADS, BUT I MET SIRIUS BLACK. EVERYONE MEETS ME EVENTUALLY. HE IS DEAD. NOW, HOW DID YOU SUCCEED, WITHOUT THE SIXTH PERSON?

"We have six. I'm right here," Luna said. He did not appear to hear her.

ARE YOU GOING TO ANSWER ME?

Luna took off the cloak and passed it to Harry. "Why couldn't you hear me?"

YOU POSSESS ONE OF THE DEATHLY HALLOWS?

"It's not mine, it's Harry's. I knew it was one, the one from Daddy's story." Luna said in her normal dreamy tone. Harry handed the cloak back to her.

THIS IS … DISTURBING. ARE YOU GOING TO DISMISS ME? I AM VERY BUSY.

"How did Voldemort stay alive?"

HE IS A WIZARD. IF NOT SQUEAMISH ABOUT TAKING LIFE, THERE ARE ALL SORTS OF ...PREVENTATIVE MEASURES. I ALWAYS CATCH UP WITH THEM EVENTUALLY.

"Thank you. You are free to leave," Harry said. Death was gone, and the classroom suddenly seemed to have less shadows.

No one wanted to set Harry off; everyone was silent until Neville said, "It's late; we can talk about it in the morning." They all quietly headed back to the dorms and to bed, even Hermione, who was tired enough to leave Luna's special brand of explanation for the morning.

Harry finally started to accept Sirius's absence, as he lay awake in his four-poster, looking out the window through a haze of silent tears.

Authors Notes:

Harry Potter characters are owned by J.K. Rowling, Warner Bros., and whoever makes the figurines and video games; I own nothing but the plot, and even that is contestable. The Rite of AshkEnte is property of Terry Pratchett. Thanks go to my stupendous beta, Chelmazing, who saved this piece from my comma happy ways.


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